Russia’s rendezvous with Hinduism

"The Gita is a source of wisdom and inspiration not only for the people of India but for Russia as well and the world."Source: PhotoXPress

There is a mystical connectivity between the souls of India and Russia. Sudheendra Kulkarni recalls Great Russian thinkers with their words of praise to The Bhagavad Gita Holy Book.

Alexander Kadakin, Russia’s
envoy to India, has won the hearts of many Indians with his prompt and
forthright response to the current controversy over the demand by a small
Christian group in his country for a ban on the Bhagavad Gita. When a TV
channel asked him if he was surprised by the outrage expressed by members of
the Indian Parliament, Kadakin said, “I am not surprised at all. I think it’s
quite correct that the Government of India has reacted in this way. Our two
governments should not allow such things to happen. The Gita is a source of
wisdom and inspiration not only for the people of India but for Russia as well
and the world.” Calling Gita-baiters “mad men” with “vested interests”, he
said, “I reiterate the love and the highest esteem our nation has for the
Bhagavad Gita.”

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As a devout Hindu and a secular
Indian, I regard the intolerant stance of a fringe section of the Russian
Orthodox Church as condemnable as that of some extremist Hindus in our own
country seeking a ban on the Holy Quran. It’s heartening to read that Darul
Uloom Deoband, an influential Islamic seminary, has also condemned the demand
for a ban on the “Hindu holy scripture”. One hopes that the leaders of Muslim
religious establishments in India express similar outrage against the virtual ban
against the Gita and other non-Islamic scriptures in Saudi Arabia.

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The Gita controversy prompts me to revisit many
inspiring moments in Russia’s long rendezvous with Hinduism, in the pre-Soviet,
Soviet and post-Soviet eras. It’s necessary to do so because our leftist
intellectuals, owing to their hatred for Hinduism, rarely mention this subject.
The Gita was first brought to Astrakhan on the Volga by Indian merchants in
1615—nearly two centuries before it was translated in Europe. Peter the Great
allowed them to build a Hindu temple and exempted them from all taxes. The best
minds in Russia had a deep fascination for Hindu philosophy and eastern
mysticism. This is best exemplified by two towering names in Russian art and
literature—Leo Tolstoy and Nicholas Roerich. Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is
Within You and his A Letter to a Hindoo had a transformative impact on Gandhiji
when he was in South Africa. Gandhiji sent a copy of his Hind Swaraj to the
rishi in Russia, who deeply appreciated its message as having “the greatest
importance, not only for India but for the whole humanity.” Tolstoy had also
read some works of Swami Vivekananda. Despite some differences on certain
issues, which were largely due to the fact that all of Swamiji’s works were not
yet available in Russian, Tolstoy described him as one of the greatest thinkers
in world history, one whose philosophy is “profound on God, soul, man, unity of
religions”. When a disciple of Swamiji sent him a book on the Gita, he wrote,
“The metaphysical, religious idea of Krishna so well expounded in your book is
the eternal and universal basis of all religions and all philosophical
systems.”

The
Tolstoy-Vivekananda-Gandhi link would be incomplete if we overlooked another
great name—Romain Rolland. Though not a Russian—he was a Nobel laureate French
writer and pacifist—Rolland’s brilliant books on Vivekananda, Ramakrishna
Paramahans, Mahatma Gandhi and Tolstoy himself were widely read by the
spiritually oriented sections of the Russian intelligentsia. One of Rolland’s
admirers was Maxim Gorky, the revolutionary Russian writer, who called him
“Russia’s Tolstoy”. Here is Gorky’s own appreciation of Hinduism: “These Hindus
are indeed remarkable people. What refined thought!”

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Coming
to Roerich, one of the greatest painters and peace activists of the 20th
century, it is a pity that educated Indians are generally unaware of the
profound influence of the Hindu philosophy on his art. Few painters have
captured on canvas the boundless spiritual splendor of the Himalayas as
meditatively as Roerich, who made Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh his abode
during the last twenty years of his life. One of my favourite Roerich paintings
shows Krishna playing the tunes of eternity on his flute under a tree against
the backdrop of the tranquil Himalayan peaks. Roerich’s writings on the need to
protect mankind’s priceless heritage of arts and culture have an undiminished
force of urgency even today. Incidentally, my own admiration for Ambassador
Kadakin stems from his tireless efforts to protect Roerich’s—and his
family’s—much-neglected heritage in India.

I have visited Roerich’s family estate near St
Petersburg. It’s called Izwara, Russian for Ishwara. Because of the spiritual
message of his art and activism, Roerich was largely ignored in official Russia
during the communist era. The leader who honourably reinstated his name in
Russian history was Mikhail Gorbachev. The architect of perestroika and
glasnost had much interest in the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. He once
invited the late Swami Lokeswarananada, a revered monk of the Ramakrishna
Mission, for a conversation.

Helena
Blavatsky, who co-founded the Theosophical Society, was deeply influenced by
Hindu-Buddhist philosophies. The Theosophy movement, aimed at forming “a
nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race,
creed, sex, caste or colour”, made a significant contribution to India’s
freedom struggle.

There
is a mystical connectivity between the souls of India and Russia. Let’s
strengthen it. Here is a suggestion to Hindu religious leaders: Hare Krishna
temples in Russia are fine, but why don’t we facilitate the setting up of a
befitting memorial to the Russian Orthodox Church in India as an initiative to
carry forward the Hindu-Christian dialogue?